Journalist makes waves

A journalist employed by the Namibian government who wrote a freelance critique on the volatile situation in Namibia’s northern Kavango region for the PANA news agency, could face disciplinary action from his employer, ‘The Namibian’ reported on Thursday. A furious Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Information and Broadcasting Permanent Secretary Mocks Shivute said he could not understand why David Kashweka, a Zambian national, “who for the past six years is part of the editorial staff of the government-funded newspaper, ‘New Era’, chose to write such a malicious report on Namibia while he is on his annual vacation in Zambia”.

Shivute said while the government cannot deny that settlements and villages close to Namibia’s border with Angola are falling prey to attacks by alleged UNITA bandits, Kashweka’s claim that the whole region’s economic and social infrastructure is almost paralysed was an exaggeration. He added that Kashweka had ignored the efforts of the government in the region, including the curfew aimed at minimising attacks, the military escorts of civilian vehicles and the military successes scored by Namibian troops. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) described the Permanent Secretary’s reaction as “lacking political maturity and fuelled by xenophobia.”